Stories from 18 November 2008
Jamaica, U.S.A.: Poetic Obama
Jamaicans Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot and Poet in Wisconsin both post poems in honour of Barack Obama.
Guyana: A Snake Story
Guyana-Gyal says that her life sometimes feels “like endless days of stories, anecdotes, drama, comedy, tragic-comedy, punctuated by…ssssssssnake!”
Another Separation between North Korea and South Korea
North Korea has announced that it will close the land border and cut non-military phone links with South Korea [BBC News]. Relations between North Korea and South Korea have been cooling down rapidly since the new government in South Korea and South Koreans are disconcerted by this sudden announcement.
China: Reflections of a Bridge Blogger
Roland from ESWN posts his presentation, “reflections of a bridge blogger”, for Chinese blogger conference in his blog. (He failed to attend the gathering because of family emergency.)
Japan and the U.S: Debt Crisis
Observing Japan comments on the debt crises in Japan ad the U.S.: For the past two decades, Japan has fallen from a great height, and barring adjustments, it may have further to fall. The US may yet experience a similar decline.
Japan: Prostitution history
nj from neojaponisme blogs an interesting episode on the history of prostitution in Japan.
South Korea: School Boy Beaten to Death
matt from Gusts of popular feeling blogs on the recent news about a 14 year old school boy being beaten to death by his schoolmates at school.
Ukraine: Harm Reduction and Law Enforcement, Part 2
Last month, Ukrainian blogger mazay wrote about his attempt to educate a group of Kyiv police officers on harm reduction programs. Although many in the audience did not seem as interested in this not-yet-popular approach to dealing with drug addiction as they were in obtaining free condoms from the activists, judging from this follow-up post by mazay, the talk did after all bear some positive fruit.
Yellow Humvees and the UN Procurement Scandal
The use of SUVs by UN staff in Nairobi is rankling some bloggers. They are posting pictures on their blogs, and have even created a flickr pool called ‘Kick The Habit’. The title of the set of pictures borrows from UNEP's (United Nations Environment Program) campaign from June of this...
Russia: “Different Family” Photo Project
"These people may have no home, no jobs. They may be doing drugs, their neighbors may hate them, and they may be banned from entering a theater because of their inappropriate looks. But within such families, love and caring relationship still reign." This is how photographer Irina Popova describes the subjects of her "Different Family" project, currently on exhibit in St. Petersburg. But since the series is centered as much on a toddler named Anfisa, the daughter of Popova's marginal adult subjects, the photographer's interpretation of her own work has caused harsh criticism.
